Shopper’s Paradise? I think not.

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First we lost daylight saving. Now we’re unlikely to get extended trading hours.

Welcome to Perth. What’s a shopper to do after hours?

I support my local IGA and for some things it is actually better than the big chains. It has a great deli counter for starters and usually has free range eggs at a decent price. It stocks muscovado sugar I use for baking and can’t get anywhere else within at least a 10km radius.

It is convenient after school because it is close and I can park near the door and not get distracted by other shops. But don’t get me started on the fruit and veg.

Like most parents and families we have a lot of sporting commitments and kids activities to squeeze into the weekend and week nights. We would love the choice to be able to shop in the evening or on Sunday , at a suburban centre or the city, not just the city, Harbourtown and designated tourism precincts (how does that even work – how are some parts of Mt Lawley tourism?)

You only have to look at the cars parked down the median strip outside Karrinyup when it opens for its few Sunday trading days to realise there is demand.

So what do I do? I shop online. I have used Coles online for groceries, lodging my order after hours. I buy kids clothes from Pumpkin Patch. I buy books, electrical and cosmetics. The latter admittedly is from an offshore merchant, so I am not helping the local economy on that front but the money I save on cleanser I can, say, put back into buying more fresh produce from WA…when the shops are open!

Online shopping is one way of curtailing my spending – less inclination to impulse buy – and last Christmas it helped avoid queues and parking fees. But is it any wonder I practically froth at the mouth when I go overseas to somewhere like Singapore, where I can step out of my hotel and shop from around 9am to 9pm!?